rear brakes repair opinion on estate

[tuxido]

Hi,

on my estate diesel i had the rear dics, pads & plates replaced last february at my local honda garage (it seems i didn't drive the car enough...). was all corroded apparantly. i know it's a common issue on those cars though. i've since done 5k miles (daily mix of motorway and town driving) and i noticed that the off-side rear pad has been sticking and is nearly half the size of the nearside one. went to honda today for a visual check and they suspect either a sticky pad or sticky caliper. the disc is still looking normal, ie not discoloured.

car is going back on saturday to have brakes stripped. if the issue is the pads they will replace them under warranty but i suspect they will hint at the caliper.....

knowing that the car failed its MOT back in february with "offside rear brake pad less than 1.5mm and both nearside&offside rear mechanical brake component has restricted free movement", is it really possible that they missed an issue with the caliper at the time or that it has since developed ?

anyone got an opinion on what the issue might be ? or what arguments i may need to get them to fix it all under warranty B)

thanks.

PS: first post great forum, full of information

 

[Jon_G]

Hi and welcome to the club!

I have experienced a rear brake 'sticking' problem on my tourer twice (with similar symptoms to yours)... first time the caliper was actually seized, so I replaced it (easy to do and reasonably cheap). More recently, the other one appeared to be seized, but when I had a close look it was actually the brake pad sliders jamming at their full width. After a bit of filing at the edges (only to remove paint and casting marks) I reassembled them with copper grease and they now work fine. You'll need to check the caliper carefully for signs of seizure - see if the piston pushes back in OK, then get someone to slowly push the brake pedal while you watch to see if the piston comes out smoothly (not too far out, though!)... repeat this a few times until you're happy with it.

When you get a chance, introduce yourself here...http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/forum/9-newbies/

 

[tbourner]

It's common on the estate for the rear caliper to go sticky and sieze unfortunately. It's due to a little hose that degrades and all the gunk from inside goes into the caliper. I recently changed my offside one because of it (and the hose).
I have a new hose in the shed ready to do the nearside one at some point, just need to find a cheap caliper. I think the offside is the one that goes more often though.

If you can do it yourself it's worth buying one from a refurbishment company, and then sending them your old one once it's changed. They're VERY expensive if you ask Honda to do it (I was quoted £600). Plus I was charged £95 for the 2 hoses (from Holdcroft Honda) although some people on here seem to have got them much cheaper.

 

[tuxido]

humm....so it sounds as if the caliper is a common cause, and not a cheap one.... the mechanic i saw today said that they would have pushed the piston back when doing the other work. doesn't mean they would have checked it properly though. and that was me thinking i could forget about the rear brakes for a while

i'm still wondering if they should have spotted that back in february (if this is issue).

fingers crossed it's the pads (sounds unlikely as it was all replaced). i'll report back on saturday after their ***essment.

@Jon_G, thanks for the link. will do.

 

[icewarrior]

Dont need to go to honda for the parts, and they needn't be expensive. As others have said, the issue is due to the brake flexi lines degrading and collapsing from the inside. I just had new pads and discs on the rear, full braided flexis fitted and 2 new (exchange refurb) calipers fitted. The calipers came in at £144 inc VAT so wasnt too bad, that was through the garage i use in cumbernauld. CMS. Big Shug in there does a bang on job.
The job list for last week was pads and discs on rear, new flexis all round, oil change, front and rear arb bushes, clutch fluid flush, brake fluid flush, long life coolant change and a couple of other wee things. i supplied the parts (except for the calipers), and only paid a fraction of what honda would charge. admittedly it was mates rates, but his labour is normally £45 per hour plus vat, heck of a lot cheaper than honda. Brakes have bedded in now and feel superb.

I'd recommend going on ebay and getting the HEL braided hoses, i think around £40-50, and then take your car to a decent garage who can fit them for you.

 

[f1hydro]

Is there a reason people are buying reconditioned calipers? Why not just pop the piston out, flush it all out, clean the piston, change the seal and pop it back in?

It's probably one of the easiest jobs to do if you've got a few basic tools and the seal kit is around £30

Robin

 

[Jon_G]

It isn't always the hoses (it wasn't on mine) - someone recently cut theirs up to investigate after swapping and found them to be fine (see post #3)... http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/10991-sticking-rear-brakes-advice-please/

 

[tbourner]

Is there a reason people are buying reconditioned calipers? Why not just pop the piston out, flush it all out, clean the piston, change the seal and pop it back in?

I can't even take my caliper off the car, let alone take it apart and know what to clean. Much easier to go to a garage with a 'new' part and ask them to swap them.

 

[Jon_G]

I can't even take my caliper off the car, let alone take it apart and know what to clean. Much easier to go to a garage with a 'new' part and ask them to swap them.

...or, if money is no object, then you could simply throw the car away and buy a new one

 

[tuxido]

i wish i could do works myself but i'm not that confident when it comes to cars. i think i'll give a ring to my independant honda garage tomorrow to ask for some quotes before the dealer looks at it. only reason i'm taking it to the dealer is because they changed all these parts earlier this year in case it's a warranty job.

would the dealer automatically change the caliper and the hose from your experiences ? or just the hose ?

 

[tbourner]

...or, if money is no object, then you could simply throw the car away and buy a new one

Well £7k is a bit different to £100 or so. My time is worth more to me than £100 but not £7k